Add generalized remote JSON loader about timemap HOT 4 CLOSED

added in trunk, though it requires you to set up your own post-processing 
functions
to get the returned data into shape.

I got the example on "basic usage" to work.  Yea!  I also succeeded putting 
that 
data in a separate file, "basic_data.js", and using <script> to preload the 
object 
and put it in 'value' (e.g. load a file with var items={...}, then I used value:
[items] in the onLoad).  Crude, but a little closer to what I wanted.

I gather from looking through timemap.js, that I should be able to do this by 
type:"json", url:"basic_data.js", but this doesn't work.  Ideas?  Is this 
related 
to "set up your own post-processing", or some other newbie mistake?

I hope to add a wiki page detailing this soon, but here's the quick rundown:

- If you're using your own static data, it's perfectly fine to do exactly what 
you
did: load your data manually into a variable, use the "basic" type and set the 
value
to the name of your variable (though you probably want your variable to be a 
array,
e.g. items = [{...item 1 data...}, {...item 2 data...}]). The effect is exactly 
the
same as using the JSON loader.

- The main point of the JSON loader is if you're loading data from someone 
else's
service - for example, exporting events from a Google Calendar or a Google
Spreadsheet. These services often work by creating the data on the fly in JSON
format; rather than assigning the data to a variable, though, they use it as the
argument for a callback function with a name you provide. This is what the JSON
loader helps with - if you give it the URL of the JSON-providing service, 
leaving off
the name of the callback function (e.g.
"http://www.example.com/somedata.php?mycallbackfunction="), the JSON loader will
create a function name and handle the data once it's returned.

So while it's possible to use the JSON loader in the way that you'd like, by 
spoofing
the callback function (not worth going into the details here), it's actually 
much
simpler and easier, if you control the data, to just do what you did, load it 
into a
variable and use the "basic" loading mechanism. This is actually more stable as 
well,
because you don't have to deal with any asynchronous loading procedure, as the 
data
is already loaded when you set it to TimeMap.

hope that helps -

Cool, I understand the thinking more.  That is a great help!